Sunday 22nd March 2026

Culture

‘Comedy is very deceptive’: Seán Carey on ‘Operation Mincemeat’

As a history student, you occasionally come across stories so strange they feel almost fictional. Operation Mincemeat is one of them.

How 2025’s biggest films made their mark through music

The recent Oscar nominations have allowed us to reflect on how fundamental musical scores are to film, and the highlights of last year’s film soundtracks.

Translating Oxford into Urdu

It’s a different emotion whenever I read the Urdu language. I’m not a native speaker, nor have I actively pursued learning the language, but as someone who finds solace in reading shayari (Urdu poetry), I wanted to follow it even in Oxford.

Stitching the world together: GFC’s London Fashion Week show

A few weeks ago we, the Cherwell fashion editors, were lucky enough to be extended an invite by the Global Fashion Collective to their London Fashion Week show.

Reality check: the power of relatable crises

"Conflicts in literature don’t work when they fail to resonate". Regardless of genre, books are most impactful when their crises are rooted in everyday human experience.

Preview: Made in Dagenham

A cheerful rendition of 'Payday' and some impressive character analysis make for a stunningly professional fifth week production.

The Crisis of Creon

'Peripeteia', reversal of fortune, for Sophocles' Creon in 'Antigone' is a wincingly fatal consequence of his tragic decision.

Review: The Oxford Revue Newcomers’ Show ‘Scrapped’ – ‘ridiculous, witty, and hilarious’

"No description, no plot summary can do justice to this highly eclectic and wonderfully unpredictable piece of theatre"

Review: Pirandello’s Henry IV – ‘earnest production let down by a dull script’

A Tom Stoppard translation of an Italian play is convincing and confusing in equal measure

Review: How to Make Friends and then Kill Them – ‘brilliantly toes the line between laughing and crying’

Coningsby Productions' three-woman production impresses with its relentless movement and convincing performances

Skin a Cat Review – ‘rethinks simplistic sexual narratives’

Britomart Productions' honest exploration of female sexuality is on at the BT Studio until Saturday.

How To Make Friends and then Kill Them Preview – ‘promises to be entertaining and unsettling’

A preview of Coningsby Productions' play at the Pilch this week.

Numbers Review – commendable but difficult to feel nuance

The play was particularly successful in its exploration of masculinity

Review: Shostakovich 7 with the Oxford University Orchestra

Peter Stark conducts a moving performance of Shostakovich 7 with the Oxford University Orchestra

Interview: renowned opera singer Iestyn Davies

Cambridge, choirs, colleges and everything else

Classical music’s illusions

Lauren Hill discusses the captivating, and yet illusory effects of performing music at a point where music education is under threat

Preview – Pirandello’s Henry IV – “a challenging role wonderfully enacted”

Omelette Productions presents an unconventional take on a Tom Stoppard translation

Review: Eugene Onegin at St John’s College Auditorium

The People's Opera's production of Eugene Onegin is a great achievement against the odds

The Pitchfork Disney Review – ‘reality and morality is blown apart to become a nightmare’

"From the moment you step into this play the direct ‘in-yer-face’ nature of the performance is abundantly clear."

Who’s direction is it anyway? An interview with the director of How to Make Friends and then Kill Them

Charlie Rogers talks black-box theatre and responds to recent Oxfess controversy

Sex Education review: exuberantly explicit

It refuses to conform to the tiring tradition of sugar-coating anything that sits outside the realm of the PG-13

The illusion of reality television

Reality television is, then, in many ways a fiction. They tell us they are depicting something akin to an authentic reality, but flatten and stabilise the randomness and contingency of actual life, while refusing to overtly acknowledge the authorial voice behind it.

Cracked Actors: Invention and Reinvention in Music

A change of persona can yield new creative space and energy.

Review: ENRON – “absolutely captivating”

“Although he and Enron fall, the people who fall with it fall more” – Sour Peach Productions present a compelling and absurd take on the real-life financial scandal

Follow us